Let’s first differentiate that dying for the government so that it can sustain prosperity is not the same as sacrificing ones life in defense of country in times of war or threat. These are two dissimilar categories. One might argue that dying for the government under a national healthcare system would provide billions of dollars in savings thereby strengthening its economy and defense.

Assume a government panel made up of non-elected officials mandate a physician to prescribe a “pill regiment” instead of a costly extensive medical procedure such as surgery or therapy. The panel bases their decisions on a government approved table of qualifications created by government paid physicians. In correlation, some public sector companies may force retirement on older employees because they are stereotyped as inefficient and unproductive, patients who are diagnosed with a certain illness could also be stereotyped as incurable or cost expansive and would be “put aside.” The distinctive question or validation to this comparison is: can a table or chart accurately distinguish the soul, energy, stamina, spirit for life and will to live of a patient? Can a doctor apply the Hippocratic Oath to which in part swears: “I will apply dietic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice” knowing that a government panel is the only body that can utilize ability and judgment? Will every patient accept or come to terms with death knowing that they could have had a chance of survival if given the medical opportunity that they once enjoyed? Would a parent consent to a government paid abortion if Spina Bifida, Down’s Syndrome, Tay-Sachs Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle Cell Anemia or any other genetic diseases were detected following a mandated amniocentesis procedure so as to not stress the government’s financial well being?

To balance this argument, most healthcare insurance companies have terms and conditions similar to the government healthcare plan. Severely ill patients who need extensive care are at the mercy of a corporation, its board of directors and share holders. Why would they even accept new clients knowing that they have pre-existing medical problems potentially incurring thousands of dollars in expenditures? Additionally, certain medical tests or treatments might be terminated after a dollar cap has been reached. In retrospect one might argue that health insurance companies are no better than a government controlled healthcare plan, both make end of life decisions based on the bottom line and not for patient interests.

According to the current Obama healthcare plan, the bill would have Medicare pay for counseling on end-of-life care with an assigned primary care doctor only if you wanted it. This doctor will control your access to specialists and decide which services, like MRIs and other diagnostic scans are best for you and whether you really need to see a specialist. The primary care physician will guide patients to tests and treatments that have proved most cost-effective for the government and possibly be financially rewarded for denying or limiting care. Elderly, disabled and emotionally distressed parents of a genetically defective or severely ill child may be easily coaxed into ending life sooner by entering a hospice type facility or for the unborn, a government paid abortion may be suggested.

Recent polls show that the majority of working Americans are happy with their current healthcare insurer and are somewhat dissatisfied only when they are denied a specific service. On the other hand more than 50% of Americans are skeptical about bureaucrats controlling their medical needs. The government’s past track record in creating and managing projects have not been very favorable and in most cases wasteful. Most working Americans trust their own family physician and do not want a government assigned one. Unemployed and uninsured Americans obviously and understandably support a government healthcare plan. While enrolled in the current Medicare and Medicaid plans they experience the lack and variety of premium medical services but are still tended to.

Medicare and Medicaid have billions of dollars scammed away from them each year. Government management of these plans have been a complete failure yet the current Obama healthcare plan seeks to model itself after both.

Congressmen and Senators have not committed themselves to participate in the Obama government healthcare plan... not a good showing of confidence. They decide for you but not for themselves and President Obama has stated he cannot enroll in the plan because he has his own personal physician at arms length. Simply put, do as I say but not as I do.

Americans have witnessed trillions of dollars in bureaucratic waste, an unmanageable non-transparent stimulus package, countless pork, self righteous theft and kickbacks by congressmen and senators and non-tax paying government officials, money spent on bank bailouts with no accountability where any money went only to witness CEO bonus payouts, the purchasing of auto manufacturers who still make the same lame cars that can't compete with the Japanese, and a Speaker of the House who doesn't care if her constituents like her.

Are you willing to die for your government and save it from additional medical expenditures so that it can retain its status quo on wasteful spending like the most recent $2.8 million for toilets in national forests. Are you willing to sacrifice your well being so that politicians and bureaucrats can feed, clothe, educate and provide medical treatment to illegal aliens? Perhaps instead, the government should work on eliminating fraudulent and ridiculous malpractice suits by vulturous tort lawyers, eliminate Medicare and Medicaid fraud while strengthening its medical coverage and remove the small print on private insurance coverage eliminating the pre-existing condition clause and dollar caps coverage termination without burdening private sector businesses by raising their contributions.

Your comments on this article are always appreciated.

Our Supreme Leader, Commissar B. Hussein Obama along with Comrade Rahm Emanuel and Comrade David Axelrod enjoyed the media blitz caused by the death of Michael Jackson. While state run television ranted with 24/7 coverage of Jackson’s death, ongoing and daily national and international coverage was placed onto the back burner excluding the deaths of Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahan, Billy Mays and Karl Malden and the world shattering news that Angelina Jolie earned more money than Jennifer Aniston in 2008. Some of the strong-minded surfed the non-government controlled Internet or listened to the (government wants’ to control) talk radio for the more important news.

On Hidden Taxes:
Congress passed Cap and Trade. Obama stated “Middle class families will see their taxes cut – and no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase.” Translation: The Pelosi/Reid/Obama strategy is to hide the gigantic tax hikes they want to fund their bailouts and big government spending including universal healthcare inside a global warming bill. An analysis of Waxman-Markey by the Heritage Foundation projects that by 2035 it would reduce aggregate gross domestic product by $7.4 trillion. In an average year, 844,000 jobs would be destroyed, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by almost 2 million. Currently unemployment is nearing 10%.

Consumers would pay through the nose as electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, as President Obama once put it, by 90% adjusted for inflation. Inflation-adjusted gasoline prices would rise 74%, residential natural gas prices by 55% and the average family's annual energy bill by $1,500. Hit hardest by all this would be the "95% of working families" Obama keeps mentioning as being protected from increased taxation. They are protected, that is, unless they use energy.

How much money went to General Electric’s Smart Grid and alternative energy businesses? GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt can now fund his state run TV stations MSNBC and NBC as long as they keep relating Obama to Lincoln, King, Roosevelt and Kennedy. Al Gore and ex-Goldman Sachs executive, David Blood, part owner of carbon offset company Generation Investment Management tell us they will not profit from Cap and Trade. It seems to me there are to many ex-Goldman Sachs executives floating around government these days. I don’t trust them. Do you?

On North Korea:
North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Il transported weaponry, missile parts and nuclear materials via the ship “Kang Nam” towards Singapore, in violation of U.N. Resolution 1874. Obama's lackluster response along with military cutbacks sends mixed signals to South Korea and Japan. They worry that his proposed cuts in ballistic-missile defense would leave Asian allies vulnerable while his cuts in F-22 fighter jets would harm Japan's ability to build a similar plane to defend itself against China. They watch as Obama cuts the US Navy's plans to build more ships to counter China's growing submarine fleet. And just in… North Korea has launched its third round of missiles, 4 short range surface to ship ones landing in the Sea of Japan.

The President needs to step up to the plate and reaffirm a strong, long-term US military commitment to its many allies in the region and not reply with weak rhetoric to a narcissistic dictator. Obama stated “I want to keep the door open so maybe North Korea will step up and do the right thing.” Pass the Kim Chee please!

On Venezuela:
Since the Summit of the Americas, Hugo Chavez and President Obama seem to have established an agreeable relationship. First, Hugo gives Barack a copy of "The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," which chronicles U.S. and European economic and political interference in the region and then goes on to compliment him on being more left-wing then he. In return Obama reinstated the U.S. diplomats to Venezuela seeking a warmer relationship with the dictator. I bet Chavez thought he would get an IPod. Can you download “Goombaya” from ITunes? Bottom line…Venezuela is one of the United States' top crude oil suppliers but why think crude when the U.S. Empire authorized $24 billion in the stimulus money to develop renewable energy sources? Cap and Trade?

On Honduras:
Honduran soldiers ousted Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras and its Congress named Roberto Micheletti as successor. Immediately he was sworn into office and will serve until Jan. 27 when Zelaya's term was supposed to end. Zelaya, the leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced what he called an illegal coup and vowed to stay in power. The action taken by the Honduran army was based on a court order and its purpose was to restore the rule of law violated by Zelaya, who disregarded the provisions of the Judiciary and the Legislative chambers. After the intervention of the Honduran Armed Forces, the constitution remained intact and a new president was appointed. For the first time in Latin America, the people revolted without bloodshed and violence against a constitutional and democratically elected President for violating laws in their country. Can you imagine if Obama tried to violate the U.S. Constitution so that he could run for a third term? As much as some idolize him, Americans would not tolerate that unless… you live in New York City where the federal government had approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg's run for his 3rd term.

Manuel Zelaya placed himself on the ballot for a 3rd term of office in violation of Honduran law. Additionally many have accused him of drug smuggling. The Honduran Supreme Court stopped him. The Obama administration has sided with Zelaya, despite criticism from Republicans that this puts him on the same side as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Castro brothers. Maybe Obama is trying to set himself up for a similar maneuver 7 years from now.

On Iran:
Iran's tenth presidential election was held on June 12, 2009. The Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the election with 63% of the votes cast and that Mir-Hossein Mousavi had received 33% of the votes cast. Obviously the Iranian citizens knew the fix was in. As a result, Iranians took to the streets risking their lives demanding a true vote count. The world watched in horror as police, government troops and its civilian militia known as Basij beat down on anti-government protesters. Obama remained silent, then was “deeply troubled” then “wanted to monitor and see how the revolt would play out before making any judgments on how he would proceed”, and then “didn’t want to meddle”. In Honduras, when its president was ousted by the court system, Obama was quick to meddle and take sides with Chavez and the Castro brothers.
Obama needs to strongly condemn Iranian government and demonstrate to the Iranian citizens that the U.S. supports them in their battle for democracy.

Fun Fact Question: If The Supreme Leader of Iran called upon former President Jimmy Carter to monitor the election and Jimmy took time away from his busy schedule of trying to remove Hamas from the U.S. government’s terrorist list, would this have made the election more credible?

Fun Fact Answer: If the Iranian government funds and supports Hamas and Jimmy supports Hamas, then Jimmy supports the Iranian government, a clear conflict of interest. Similarly, if Obama were to employ ex-Goldman Sachs executives to manage Wall Street and the banking industry….A conflict? Disagree and want to complain. Obama’s civilian militia might give you a whooping one day.

On Healthcare:
ABC hosted an infomercial “Obama Knows Healthcare”. The program featured President Obama discussing his controversial public healthcare plan answering questions from audience members pre-selected by the network. ABC refused requests from both the GOP and paid advertisers to offer separate and opposing viewpoints. Just like Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez who turns off any TV station that opposes his viewpoints, ABC is state run and answers only to the Obama administration.

Picture yourself in Coliseum Hospital waiting your turn to face the Messiah. Sitting next to you is an 80 year old man in need of heart surgery. After several hours his name is called. He approaches the Messiah. The Messiah says “you are too old and sick” turns his thumb down and tells him to take a pill. Next a 30 year old woman who was previously denied a pap test because she had one only 3 years ago approaches the Messiah who also gives her a thumbs down telling her “cervical cancer treatment would cost too much money” and then prescribes a pill to ease her pain. Then dozens of veterans approach the Messiah wanting HIV screening because a VA hospital in Miami didn't use proper sterilization techniques while performing their colonoscopies. And then more vets approached the Messiah because another VA hospital over-radiated them for prostrate treatment. Hours go by as countless illegal aliens are seen by the Messiah. How did you end up with government healthcare after the Messiah promised that you can keep your current heath plan? Do you blame your employer for discontinuing Aetna Insurance for the cheaper government plan? Finally, your name is called to meet the Messiah. "You're young and strong, thumbs up to you". An MRI appointment is made for only a 6 month wait and your bed is reserved in the smaller ward following the 5 months wait for treatment. I'm so glad those Canadians don't come here anymore....The wait would be so much longer.

On the Media:

Communism occurs when the press is of one party and controls both incoming and outgoing news and is used as a means of exercising control over the people. When the press is taken over by government it is the end of a free thinking society.

CBS' Chip Reid and Helen Thomas formerly of UPI and now of Hearst double teamed Press Secretary Robert Gibbs at the July 1st daily press briefing on the tightly controlled town hall meeting President Obama held on healthcare. Helen Thomas accused the White House of controlling the press. She said almost all White House/Obama events are prepackaged meaning the White House receives all questions in advance and contacts reporters prior to Town Hall Meetings. She accused the White House of not having any answers. Thomas stated afterwards to CNS News that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press. “Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control the media.. They didn’t try. “What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.” Wow...after Bill O'reilly's complaint about Helen Thomas' voice sounding like the wicked witch of the east, she finally woke herself up and rattled other reporters as well.

Your comments on this article are always appreciated.

In the movie "Network" (1976) Howard Beale (Peter Finch) galvanizes the nation with his rant, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" and persuades Americans to shout out their windows during a spectacular lightning storm. Howard Beale's attempt to improve his dismal ratings as an anchor for the UBS Evening News temporarily succeeds.

President Obama goes on Jay Leno and galvanizes the nation saying that he was stunned when he learned of the bonuses that bailed-out insurance giant AIG was paying its employees. "We're going to do everything we can to get these bonuses back", he declared. President Obama's also defended Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner for his work on the AIG bailout. The President's attempt to improve his ratings temporarily succeeds. But how long will his "rock star" image remain?

After much talk about the $165 million in AIG bonuses, it has now come to realization that both Senator Dodd and President Obama were the two largest recipients of AIG campaign money. They were the only two politicians that received over $100,000, in 2008, from the failing company. Dodd received $103,100 and then Senator Obama received $100,332. AIG gave more than $585,000 to Congressional and Presidential Candidates last year favoring Democrats 3 to 1 over Republicans.

“While AIG was collapsing, and her executives crawling to DC with hat in hand,” said Senator Dodd, “my campaign, and then-Senator Obama’s were getting what can only be termed influence bonuses from the same firm. Naturally, I knew nothing about this, and I’m now seething with anger at the injustice.”

I am glad to see you are on top of things Senator Dodd. This makes me very comfortable to know that my tax dollars are going to issues that you “know nothing about.” Dodd allowed AIG to rake in BILLIONS in his home state of Connecticut and allowed the AIG contracts that provided the bonuses, but now will work his tail off to get every dollar back? Nice try Senator Dodd. Why don’t you just tell us the truth?

Who were the officials responsible for designing and implementing the AIG bailout? Tim Geithner (who, before he was Obama's Treasury Secretary was head of the New York branch of the Federal Reserve Bank); Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke; Bush's Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson (previously Goldman Sachs' Chairman). Moreover, according to the New York Times, also present at the key Federal Reserve meetings last September which decided to let Goldman Sachs competitor Lehman Brothers fail, but to rescue AIG, was current Goldman Sachs Chairman Lloyd C. Blankfein. According to the Times, Goldman Sachs was AIG's largest trading partner, and "a collapse of the insurer threatened to leave a hole of as much as $20 billion in Goldman's side." We now learn that Goldman received $12.6 billion from the AIG bailout (as well as tens of billions more from other Federal bailout funds.) But at the time, Goldman's spokesman claimed, apparently falsely, that "our exposure to AIG was, and is, not material." In February, the very same Goldman Chairman Blankfein denied to the House Financial Services Committee that Goldman had a major stake in bailing out AIG. It now turns out that AIG and Blankfein were not being truthful. Moreover, Geithner must have known they weren't being truthful and chose to keep it a secret from the American people and from Congress. And now to make your eyes bleed, AIG sent out about 40 billion of the bailout package to foreign banks (mostly French and German), 22 in all.

Now that our government has proven their extraordinary expertise, I can't wait for them to work on managing health care (not to include wounded soldiers), climate change, paying your mortgage and credit card debt, family values, STD's, the Charlie Rangel tax evasion trial and the pardon of Jack Bauer. You can forget an economic recovery plan for now as there is no plan and Obama and the Democrats can still find it easy to blame George W. Bush for your dwindling 401K.

Next election, vote out all the incumbents while screaming: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

Your comments on this article are always appreciated.

Captain Kirk: "On Earth today, it's Thanksgiving. If the crew has to eat synthetic meat loaf, I want it to look like turkey."
(StarTrek, Episode Titled: “Charlie X")

The Stimulus package looks like turkey but what you’re really getting is synthetic meat loaf. Obama is no Captain Kirk, but he sure sounded like him.

Obamanomics and the U.S.S.A (United Socialist States of America)

Stimulus: Something external that influences an activity. (Webster)
Stimulus: Making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization. (The Democratic Congress, H.R. 679)

Millions of Americans are losing jobs, homes and savings because of your government’s stupidity and greed yet President Obama wants to expand it and give it more control. Let’s render some of the fat:

On November 22, 2008 President-elect Obama: "I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office,".

H.R. 679 aka “Stimulus Package” looks like a bunch of campaign promises made to Federal, State and Local bureaucrats, pork and handouts. Nothing seems to stimulate jobs and if you're looking for a quick fix you'll have to wait several years to see most of the plans kick in. Once you feed the system with a substantial dose, like a junkie, it will require more and more never ending until it seeks redemption or just implodes. Obviously, the more money we pump into the system, the bigger government gets with more agencies to watch agencies and bureaucrats to watch bureaucrats of agencies watching agencies. Here are some examples of H.R. 679:

An independent board of 5 will be appointed by the president to prevent waste, fraud and abuse in Federal spending. $14,000,000 is appropriated to the board. Has anyone out there found Christopher Dodd's mortgage paperwork yet? Has Barney Frank been appointed to head more committees to oversee housing loans? Turbo Tax really did screw up Tim Geitner's 1040 didn't it? How much money did Hillary get from Mark Rich and family? Wasn't Charlie Rangel's trial supposed to be over by now? Why is the whole corrupt Illinois Senate still seated? New Jersey?? (enough said on that one)
Late Breaking News...Another tax evader, Tom Daschle, $140,000.

For government departments already in place with a working staff collecting a salary the stimulus package gives additional funds to them so that they can do a job that they are already paid to do. $208,500,000 for the various Department’s Inspector General's Offices and $25,000,000 for the General Accountability Office. If you still have your job, ask your boss for more money to do what is expected and see what reply you get.

So far the only people getting a job are those being appointed by the President or the bureaucrats managing the stimulus money.

In a rough estimate the package seems to bring in $25,700,000,000 for agriculture, nutrition and rural development. Highlights include building and facility maintenance programs and watershed and flood prevention operations. A portion of this money is to be designated as loans for rural development. Loans will put farmers deeper into debt. As we are loaning the rural areas, the package will provide those who cannot afford high speed Internet access with free Internet access, faster than many who pay an ISP for that pleasure. The bill does not include supplying PCs or MACs however. I get it, force the farmers to buy their own computers to stimulate the computer retail stores.

Money is allotted for food and nutrition for women, infants and children. Sorry guys, nothing for you. Money is also allotted for high speed data, the Bureau of the Census, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study climate change, State and Local law enforcement, creation of bike trails, NASA to study weather, The Department of Defense, Department of Energy to study energy independence, Preservation of the Honey Bee, Health and Human Services, STD prevention. They removed funding for analog TV conversion and birth control; Nancy Pelosi, shame on you for having 5 kids and 7 grandchildren. That's going to cost us money someday. Next time maybe you should think of getting rid of the seniors as they don't work, pay lower taxes and drain Social Security. (Just Kidding!)

The package also calls on the U.S. to practice protectionism with regard to the steel industry. Breaking with the W.T.O and NAFTA agreements, Canada, Europe and China will seek retaliation. This mentality was partially the cause of the “Great Depression.” Steel companies will get fat but prices on goods that require steel will rocket up causing more problems to consumers.

This stimulus package grows government bigger than ever and brings us closer to socialism and protectionism hence “the U.S.S.A.”

What this economic team really needs to do right now is to force the banks we are helping to loan out the money to people who need the money without any hanky-panky rules, covert charges and fine print and prevent them from buying out other banks as investments.

On a funny note, the U.S. mint should print pink stimulus money so this way it can be tracked and we can all see who is really getting it. Obama did say he wanted more transparency in government, didn't he?

You can get a copy of the Congressional Stimulus Package at http://www.heritage.org

President Obama has committed himself to creating 2.5 million jobs by 2011. I pray he doesn't fail but for now, enjoy your meat loaf.

Your comments on this article are always appreciated.

Aren’t you all tired of this “experience crap” already? After a long campaign season questioning the experience of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin we now have to start analyzing the qualifications of Caroline Kennedy as a NY Senator. Why not Caroline Kennedy for NY Senator?

So what if she doesn’t want to disclose where all her money comes from. We all know anyway ....books, her foundation, her dead families’ inheritance, a piece of her Uncle Ted’s 43.8 million. She’s filthy rich so just get over it already!

Can she fill Hillary’s shoes? Hillary had no experience, wasn’t born in NY, failed to disclose her finances, and received over $500,000 in contributions from the Marc Rich family. Let’s not forget her husband “Willy the Stain” who got plenty of money from his “Mein Kampf” book, countless public speaking appearances and maybe through some secret deals…a few UAE Dirhams on the side. Was Hillary qualified to be NY Senator when she first ran for office? At least Caroline was born in NY and not Illinois.

Are these guys any better than Caroline?

Former Governor Elliot Spitzer (NY-D)
On September 21, 2007, Spitzer issued an executive order directing that state offices allow illegal immigrants to be issued driver's licenses effective December 2007. This order was later overturned.

Spitzer had patronized a high-priced prostitution service called Emperors Club VIP and met for over two hours with a $1,000-an-hour call girl. Spitzer had at least seven or eight liaisons with women from the club over six months, and paid more than $15,000. According to published reports, investigators believe Spitzer paid up to $80,000 for prostitutes over a period of several years while he was Attorney General and later as Governor.

Senator Chuck Schumer (NY-D)
In July 2008, the director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, John Reich, blamed the failure of savings and loan and mortgage originator Indy Mac on comments made by Schumer, who sent a publicized letter to the regulator raising concerns about the bank's solvency. Schumer wrote that he was "concerned that Indy Mac’s financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers and that the regulatory community may not be prepared to take measures that would help prevent the collapse of Indy Mac." In the following 11 days, panicked depositors withdrew a total of $1.3 billion in mostly insured funds. Schumer conceded his actions may have caused some depositors to withdraw their money prematurely but denied blame for Indy Mac’s downfall.

Congressman Charlie Rangel (NY-D)
The New York Times reported on July 10, 2008, that Rangel rents four apartments in the Lenox Terrace complex in Harlem at below-market rates. The newspaper reported that Rangel paid $3,894 monthly for all four apartments in 2007, but that the going rate for similar apartments offered by the landlord in that building would be as high as $8,125 monthly. Three adjacent apartments on the 16th floor were combined to make up his 2,500-square-foot home; a fourth unit on the 10th floor is used as a campaign office, even though that violates city and state regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence. The apartments are in a building owned by the Olnick Organization. Rangel received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from one of the company’s owners, according to The Times. Rangel told the newspaper his rent does not affect his representation of his constituents.

Congressional ethics experts cited by the Times indicated that the difference in rent between what Rangel was paying and market rates on the second, third and fourth apartments he rented, an estimated $30,000 per year, could be construed as a gift as the savings is granted at the discretion of the landlord and is not offered to the public at large; if this should be treated as a gift, it would exceed the $100 limit established by the House of Representatives. In late July, the House voted 254 to 138 to table a resolution submitted by Minority Leader John Boehner that would have censured Rangel for having "dishonored himself and brought discredit to the House" by occupying the four apartments.

Rangel had been accused of failing to report income from the rental of a villa he owns in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, a three-bedroom, three-bath unit that has been rented out for as much as $1,100 per night in the busiest tourist season, from mid-December to mid-April. Labor lawyer Theodore Kheel, one of the principal investors in the resort development company and a frequent campaign contributor to Rangel, had encouraged the congressman to purchase the beachside villa. Rangel had purchased the unit in 1988 for $82,750 and financed $53,737.50 of the purchase price for seven years at a rate of 10.5%, but was one of several early investors who had interest payments waived in 1990. In September 2008, Lanny Davis, Rangel's attorney, disclosed that Rangel had failed to report $75,000 in income he had received for renting the condo on his tax returns or in congressional disclosure forms. His accountants were calculating the amounts owed and would be filing amended city, state and federal tax returns to cover the liability for back taxes.

In late November 2008, Republican members of Congress asked the House Ethics Committee to look into Rangel's defense of a tax shelter loophole that allows tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks for a company which has donated $1 million to the City College of New York school named after Rangel; under the loophole approved by Rangel's Ways and Means Committee, Nabors Industries has been allowed to open a small outlet in Bermuda and call itself a foreign corporation. Rangel denied the charges.

In December 2008, it surfaced that Rangel paid $80,000 in campaign funds to an internet company run by his son for the creation of his PAC website.

Is Caroline the right choice?

Does it really matter? You the voters have re-elected your Senators, Congressmen and Governors including the ones under investigation or on the take over and over again so why all the rhetoric about the selection and qualifications of Caroline? She is generous, philanthropic and much smarter than Al Franken... so there! If she wants to jump into the “slime pit”…..let her and quit your whining!

The staff at CliffyWorld wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Your comments on this article are always appreciated.

Pumpkin and Pecan were pardoned by President Bush for their crime of just being turkeys. There were neither legal forms submitted to the Pardon Attorney nor any discussions with the Attorney General. The two turkeys pardoned by Bush will be flown "first class" to Disneyland in California, where they will serve as grand marshals of "Disney's Thanksgiving Day Parade." After the parade, the turkeys will be in the Frontierland section where people can visit them. This National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation is a tradition that dates back to 1947, when Harry Truman pardoned the first White House turkey. Presidential turkey pardons have since been a form of "harmless" entertainment similarly to watching Punxsutawney Phil predict weather forecasts every Groundhog Day.

Traditionally, at the end of an administrations term, the outgoing president reviews a list of applicants for commutation or pardon given to him by the Attorney General. It is a spotlighted event the media gropes upon but actually pardons and commutations take place throughout the year without much hoopla.

First, let’s define Commutation vs. Pardon:

Commuting is the act of reducing a sentence. A president has the ability to commute a sentence before it's even begun. A full pardon can do the same thing; it can also reduce a sentence. But more commonly a pardon is granted after a person serves his prison sentence. And unlike a commutation, a pardon can absolve the person of his status as a convicted criminal and restore his civil abilities.

Presidents have always been criticized or denounced by their choices. Bill Clinton was hammered by both houses of Congress for his questionable pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. In 1983, Rich was indicted in federal court of evading more than $48 million in taxes. He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis. Rich has been living in Switzerland for almost 20 years now happily running a commodities trading firm worth nearly $1 billion. Since he has never publicly renounced his U.S. citizenship he can return to the U.S A. without any penalty.

Marc Rich's socialite ex-wife has donated an estimated $1 million to Democratic causes, including $70,000 to Hillary Clinton's successful Senate campaign and $450,000 to the Clinton presidential library fund. She also lobbied heavily for Marc's pardon. On a side-note, President-Elect Obama's consideration of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State demonstrates a lack of good judgment.

George W Bush is not exempt from the scrutiny of presidential pardons. As governor, Bush favored tougher laws for drug offenders, including signing legislation that allows judicial discretion to sentence first-time offenders possessing less than one gram of cocaine to a maximum of 180 days in jail. As President, Bush pardoned a substantial number of drug dealers and traffickers. The most disturbing was the commuting of John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit, Mich. Both were convicted of cocaine offenses.

Back on June 7, 2000, Bush stated "The federal government has a critical responsibility to enforce our nation’s drug laws and to stop international drug traffickers. In our battle against the international drug trade, the Southwest border is the front line. Much of the burden from this national battle falls on border counties, whose limited resources are already stretched thin. The federal government must step up and do its part." Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were given terms of 11 and 12 years respectively on their convictions for shooting an illegal alien drug smuggler. Bush should have honored those agents for their service to our country by granting them a full pardon but left them high and dry as the Federal Government treated them with contempt.

Our borders with Mexico are the primary corridors for drug trafficking into the U.S. From February 1, 2005 to June 30, 2007, there were 1,982 incidents where Border Patrol agents have been assaulted. These assaults include rock throwing, physical assaults, vehicular assaults as well as shootings. In response, Border Patrol agents have responded with the use of deadly force on 116 occasions, with 144 agents discharging their weapons during these 116 incidents.

While the Constitution places no significant limitations on presidents in granting pardons, we have certainly witnessed the grief that can come to presidents or former presidents who appear to grant them haphazardly, or show favoritism in the act.

Perhaps they should just stick to pardoning turkeys.

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Why should Joe the plumber be penalized for success and the American dream? Joe works hard, earns a good living and has aspirations of owning his own business.

Starting out small Joe's business grows to the point that he needs to hire 5 more plumbers, a bookkeeper and a secretary. Each plumber earns a salary of $40,000 dollars per year. The bookkeeper earns a salary of $18,000 dollars a year and the secretary earns $16,000 dollars a year. Joe draws a salary of $25,000 dollars a year. Joe also needs to pay $1,500 dollars per year for property and liability and $1,000 dollars per year for workers compensation, $2,400 dollars product liability insurance along with supplying group medical insurance to his employees and their families at a cost of $280 per month for singles and about $750 dollars per month for family coverage ($6,180 dollars per year average). Joe must lease 5 vans for his plumbers at $36,000 a year and pay for maintenance and fuel at $5,600 per year. Joe will have to keep an inventory of parts and supplies at a cost of $30,000 dollars. Joe's approximate payout per year is $340,000 dollars. Assuming Joe makes a profit of $260,000 dollars per year (exceeding the $250,000 dollar mark) his business will be taxed higher. Currently Joe pays a tax of $39,000 dollars but under Obama's plan he will pay $72,800 dollars, a little less than double. The $33,800 dollars extra will be redistributed over to Bob who earns a salary of $15,000 dollars per year from his job as a clerk at Walmart.

Bob may have inspirations of becoming a supervisor or manager someday but why would he take on additional responsibilities when he can reap the benefits from other successful business people. On the other hand, Joe's business future is looking grim with a poor economy, inflation and an additional tax burden of $33,800 dollars. Joe must lay off one plumber to maintain his current standard of living.

Small business can be described as anything from a hot dog vendor to a 50 employee manufacturer. Obviously a hot dog vendor will never make $250,000 but chances are that the 50 employee company will. The latter is what drives the American workforce. Taxing small business for the purpose of redistribution to the poor makes little sense especially during a recession. It impedes progress, prevents new jobs and provides little incentive as in a socialistic society. Robin Hood is a fictional character and to believe otherwise would be illusions of grandeur.

Obama on Capital Gains...

There's nothing the least bit unusual in a Democrat calling for higher taxes; it'd be newsworthy if a Democrat called for citizens to be allowed to keep more of their own money. Capital gains taxes are always a favorite target: as their name implies, they are on increases of capital, which is considered to be owned by rich people. What do Democrats stand for, if not "soak the rich" or "tax big corporations"?

No, the surprising thing isn't the tax increase itself, but the reason Sen. Obama gave why he wants to increase it. ABC's Charlie Gibson addressed this issue at the Democratic debate in Philadelphia. Here's the transcript:

MR. GIBSON: You have however said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, "I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton, which was 28 percent."It's now 15 percent. That's almost a doubling if you went to 28 percent. But actually Bill Clinton in 1997 signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.
SENATOR OBAMA: Right.
MR. GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.
SENATOR OBAMA: Right.

So far, so ordinary. Barack Obama wants to double the capital gains tax, placing it 50% higher than the legislation Bill Clinton signed to lower it. Obama has always set himself to the left of the Clintons and particularly much farther left than Slick Willie himself. The truly astounding part comes next:

MR. GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year -- $29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair...
MR. GIBSON: But history shows that when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up.
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, that might happen or it might not. [emphasis added]

Here we see the difference between someone who is ignorant and someone who is insane.  Normal Democrats want to raise taxes so they can get more money to spend on their beloved social programs.  Raising taxes very seldom gives the government any more money; as economist Arthur Laffer conclusively proved decades ago, once taxes reach a certain point, increasing them causes the actual dollar amounts collected to go down. This is called the Laffer Curve. There are many reasons this takes place: if tax rates are too high, people will decide not to work harder because they keep so little of the extra they earn, or they will move their investments into tax shelters such as municipal bonds instead of more productive corporate stocks. This is especially true of taxes on capital: it's kind of hard to get around paying higher income taxes if you are an ordinary wage slave, but capitalists can trivially move their capital offshore, into shelters, or anywhere else to avoid excess taxes.

Both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush used this insight to good effect, lowering tax rates (over vehement Democratic opposition) but reaping increased revenues as the economy boomed. Congressional Democrats have long refused to acknowledge the truth of the Laffer Curve; they continue to claim, in spite of all the evidence, that the way to get more money for the government is to continually raise taxes. They are being straightforward - fundamentally wrong, but honest about their intentions at least.

Barack Obama is a completely different bird. Let's read his statement again: "Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness".

Unlike his fellow Democrats, he apparently understands the Laffer Curve. He knows that raising the capital gains tax rates will not give the government any more actual cash; quite the opposite, such a move will cost the government money. But he doesn't care. In effect, he wants to spend government money (through lower tax revenues) for the express purpose of making rich people poorer, on account of fairness. He wants to destroy wealth. Not redistribute wealth; not take from the rich and give to the poor; just simply to make wealth vanish. "I can't have it; I don't want you to have it; so I'll make sure you can't keep it, even though taking it from you doesn't benefit me a bit."

What sort of person sets out to intentionally destroy wealth for no other reason or benefit than the vague perception of "fairness"? We can't all be rich, so we'll just make the rich poor like us? Not since Karl Marx have we heard such naked jealousy.

The boom-times of the 80s and 90s proved Reagan's saying, "A rising tide lifts all boats." Barack Obama doesn't like seeing the rich men's yachts floating high and mighty; he wants to pull the plug just to see the yachts run aground. The fact that all the rowboats and ducky-floats of the poor will run aground just as badly bothers him not in the least: we'll all be on the rocks together. He's finally found a change we can all believe in: equality in poverty.

The capital-gains tax does not apply just to the wealthy. It applies to anyone that buys something, and sells it later for a higher price. Such as, say, anyone with a house? Right now, many Americans are suffering with falling home values; in theory, we want prices to rise instead. And when they do, Sen. Obama will be right there with his hand out to confiscate an even bigger portion of the gain than previously. Need we mention that capital gains calculations have never been indexed for inflation and that the prices of everything are going up just at the moment? So what will happen is that people will wind up paying cash for taxes on gains that, thanks to inflation, don't even exist. But that doesn't bother Barack Obama; it's all about fairness, not reality, sanity, or paying the government's bills.

Let's have Bill Clinton back. At least he knew how to count.

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